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A Touch of Spring (or Avanti!)

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  2w, 7m

Dealing with love and red tape and the magical atmosphere of Rome in the spring, this delightful witty comedy (presented on Broadway as AVANTI!) went on to phenomenal success in London in the newly revised version offered here. "…it is warm and funny…

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 7m

Details

Summary
As the New York Post outlines: "It is set in a real Rome. A Rome you really miss…It is set there because a young, conservative, slightly stuffy American businessman has come to retrieve the body of his father, who was killed in an automobile accident. Confronted with bureaucratic pasta and accustomed to his own business power, he blusters futilely until the arrival of a "professional assistant'—a young Italian who, for a fee, will cut through any red tape. And though we have seen this character, more or less, in many stories about Americans in Italy, Mr. Taylor has created him extra special wonderfully. He is a pimp for all sexes and all variations, and takes his own sex any way you choose. He deals with the bureaucracy as he deals with life—optimistically, high spiritedly and with a sure knowledge of his own childishness. The American businessman also meets a young lady, as he would have to in such a play. She is the daughter of his father's lover, who was killed in the car accident. Nor should it come as a surprise to anyone that they have an affair, that the young man is married, that his wife unexpectedly arrives and that he leaves agreeing to meet her for a month in Italy. Just as her father and her mother had been doing for twelve years…So then what it adds up to is grown-up entertainment…so well done and so basically diverting that it can only be taken for the pleasurable thing it is."

Media

"Dealing with love and red tape and the magical atmosphere of Rome in the spring, this delightful witty comedy (presented on Broadway as AVANTI!) went on to phenomenal success in London in the newly revised version offered here. "…it is warm and funny and, above all, civilized." —NY Newsday. "…delightful, romantic and adult…" —Women's Wear Daily. "This frolic is such fun! Samuel Taylor has written a joyous comedy." —London Evening News. "Escape into spring for a lovely fling." —London Daily Express.

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

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Authors

Samuel Taylor

Samuel Taylor (1912-2000) wrote the Broadway plays The Happy Time, based on the book of the same name by Robert Fontaine, Sabrina Fair, The Pleasure of His Company (with C.O. Skinner), First Love (adapted from Romain Gray's memoir, Promise at Dawn), Beekman Place, Avanti!, A ...

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